WordPress.com has begun to change its stance on copyright law takedown abuse. The company advises the US Copyright Office. (US Copyright Office) to introduce new law that would allow for damages to reduce the frequency of erroneous and abusive DMCA takedown requests.
Η Automattic, the company behind the popular blogging platform WordPress.com, receives thousands of takedown requests from copyright holders every year.
A significant proportion of these announcements contain inaccuracies and there are several which are incorrect, fraudulent or abusive.
In a recent report to the US Copyright Office, Automattic CEO Paul Sieminski explained that "enforcement robots" and the lack of human review are responsible for many of the inaccurate removal requests.
"While we recognize that the use of automated tools may be necessary in certain forms of infringement and in certain types of websites, personal blogs are not the appropriate targets for law enforcement robots."
"Copyright holders have a duty to consider the request before sending a removal notice, and robots just can't be right at all," says Sieminski.
Automattic makes every effort to comply with DMCA requests, but the company believes that more needs to be done to prevent such future situations. The current regulations are not sufficient, the company supports.
Among the changes proposed by the company is a new law that will allow compensation in case of abuse of DMCA takedown requests.
"This can ensure that those who cause harm through false statements will be held accountable for their actions," Sieminski said.
The comments of Automattic have been subject to a government public consultation to assess whether and if the DMCA should be reformed in the future.
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